9th Edition (Magic: The Gathering)

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Ninth Edition
The number nine superimposed over a trio of fanned cards
Released	July 29, 2005 [1]
Size	359 (110 rares, 110 uncommons, 110 commons, 20 lands, 9 starter)
Keywords	Aura
Mechanics	None new
	v · d · e

Ninth Edition (9th Edition) or Core Set is the fourth latest base set for the collectible trading card game, Magic: The Gathering.

Set attributes

Ninth Edition features many cards from older base sets and expansions. While many of these cards were very powerful during their original print run it remains to be seen if they are still powerful in Magic today.

With Ninth Edition came a redesign of Fat Packs. The Fat Pack consisted of two boxes wrapped around by a card box wrapper featuring new art. The player's guide was also reduced in size but was now sturdier. Also added were 6 divider pieces with artwork for inside the boxes.

In addition to the 350 cards available in booster packs, the Ninth Edition Core Game contained 9 "starter cards", labeled with the collector numbers S1 through S10 (there is no card labeled S6, however), which were not available in booster packs. These were simple "vanilla" creatures, such as Eager Cadet, which were designed to introduce new players to the game but which were regarded as bad cards and disliked by experienced players. [2]

As of 2011, Ninth Edition is the last Magic set to be printed with white borders. The set's premium foil cards were printed with black borders. Cards made available in Cyrillic when Ninth Edition was marketed in Russia also were black-bordered; this marked the first time a new language had been printed for the game since Simplified Chinese was added to Fifth Edition.^[1]

Mechanics

Ninth Edition does not feature any mechanics not present in previous expansions. However, Ninth Edition does modify the list of mechanics considered suitable for base sets. The trample and protection mechanics were included after being removed from Classic Sixth Edition and later base sets. Equipment, first introduced in the Mirrodin set, is also in Ninth Edition, although it was moved up in rarity. Furthermore, all mechanics now have reminder text; mechanics such as flying and trample did not in earlier sets.

Ninth Edition is also the first set to be printed using the new template for enchantments. Previously, enchantments that were played on other permanents were called "local enchantments" and were printed with the type "Enchant creature," "Enchant land," etc. With the Champions of Kamigawa set, Wizards of the Coast made an effort to simplify the type line, which had contained rules interactions that were not written on the card. Following this reasoning, the line "Enchant something" was a problem for several reasons. It has been changed to "Enchantment - Aura" and the targeting restriction moved to the text box. Mark Gottlieb explained the changes in this article. While errata have been issued to make all such cards conform to this template, Ninth Edition is the first set where the cards have actually been printed this way.

Theme decks

The theme decks for 9th Edition are:

• Army of Justice (white) [3]
• Lofty Heights (blue) [4]
• Dead Again (black) [5]
• World Aflame (red) [6]
• Custom Creatures (green) [7]

References

1. ^ "Bordering on Lunacy". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af159. Retrieved 2011-09-08. 

External links

• Wizards' official page for Ninth Edition